MArietta, Ga. — Fani Willis lashed out at his critics in a defiant speech Thursday at a black church outside Atlanta, naming no names but appearing to refer to donald trump and others who attacked the Georgia prosecutor’s investigation into the former president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state.
Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, got an indictment last year against Trump and 18 of his allies. She faced months of criticism for her handling of the case — with some of the attacks resorting to racist or sexist tropes — as well as her hiring of a special prosecutor, now off the case, with whom she had a romantic relationship.
Speaking to a gathering of black churchgoers and clergy, Willis said friends often express concern for her.
“I live the experience of a black woman who is attacked and overly sexualized,” she said. “See, I’m so tired of hearing these idiots call my name ‘fanny’ in a way of trying to humiliate me because, like silly boys at school, the name reminds them of a woman’s ass, her ass.”
Trump used this pronunciation to mock Willis — whose first name is pronounced FAH’-nee — most notably during a rally in Ohio in March, when he said “fanny, like your ass” when talking about her name. To a request for comment Thursday, Willis said her father, “a strong, educated, conscientious black man,” gave her the name Fani Taifa, which she said means “prosperous people” in Swahili.
Willis’s candor in response to critics is not new. But her extrajudicial statements were seized upon by Trump’s defense lawyers and drew admonishment from the judge in the case, who is mainly on hold while a Georgia appeals court considers whether she should be allowed to remain in office.
At the Georgia AME church’s annual planning meeting, Willis told the crowd gathered in the sanctuary of a church in suburban Marietta that friends often express concern about attacks on her, but that she shrugs off the ugliness.
“What I’m here to tell you is not to worry about insults against me. I promise you, I don’t worry about them,” she told the supportive audience, making shouted statements throughout her 25-minute comments. “I’m too busy working 15 hour days trying to use all the talents God has given me to fulfill the purpose God has given me.”
Willis also said he works hard “to hold accountable everyone – everyone, there are no exceptions – who dares to come into our community and break the law.” This reflects his standard response when asked about prosecuting a former president – that no one is above the law.
The August indictment accuses Trump and the others of participating in a broad scheme to try to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which Trump narrowly lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Four defendants pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors, but Trump and the others pleaded not guilty.
Republican lawmakers in Atlanta and Washington have targeted her since the indictment, opening investigations into her office. She had a particularly barbed exchange with U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who questioned her motivations and demanded that she produce records.
She appeared to attack Jordan again on Thursday, saying: “We have politicians who waste no time fulfilling their elected purpose. In fact, we have a clown in Washington DC who was elected for the purpose of making his community safer and passing laws. But he’s been there for 17 years and hasn’t passed any laws.”
Jordan entered Congress in 2007, 17 years ago. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s defense lawyers and others have pointed to a speech Willis gave at a historic black church in Atlanta in January, saying she inappropriately inserted race and God into the case, potentially biasing potential jurors against her clients. These arguments arose in an ongoing effort to remove Willis and her office from the election interference lawsuit or have the case dismissed entirely.
The effort to remove Willis began with the revelation that she had a romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade, whom she hired as a special prosecutor for the case. Defense attorneys argued that Willis improperly profited from the case when Wade used his winnings to take her on vacation, resulting in a conflict of interest.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that there was no conflict that should have forced Willis to drop the case, but he said there was an “appearance of impropriety.” He allowed Willis to remain on the case as long as Wade did not, and the special prosecutor resigned hours later.
The Georgia Court of Appeals last month agreed to take on the case and Trump’s lawyers earlier this week asked the court to hear oral arguments. Willis’ team on Wednesday filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, arguing there is insufficient evidence to support reversing the trial court’s order.
The case against Trump and the other eight defendants involved in the appeal was halted by the appeals court while it reviews the lower court’s ruling. This means that the case against Trump, one of the four criminal cases against the former presidentwill almost certainly not go to trial before the November general election, when Trump is expected to be the Republican candidate for president.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
